Life is too fucking brutal and depressing as it is and "Depressing as Fuck" is something I take in extreme moderation.....

I'm with you there.

@none
I don't think it's strange that people expected more than friendship from an author that is mostly famous for doing hardcore pornographic lolicon manga, lmao.

(Edit: I'm also constantly on the lookout for super fluffy, non-angsty yuri.) ;D

Stretch never promised anything more than stretching and friendship. If people expected more and got disappointed, it's entirely their fault.

none posted:

@none
I don't think it's strange that people expected more than friendship from an author that is mostly famous for doing hardcore pornographic lolicon manga, lmao.

(Edit: I'm also constantly on the lookout for super fluffy, non-angsty yuri.) ;D

Stretch never promised anything more than stretching and friendship. If people expected more and got disappointed, it's entirely their fault.

Didn't stop people from stretching it though.

Yuri, to me, means lesbian romance. Stricter definitions, like "yuri has to be subtle, has to be pure love blah blah blah.." in my opinion have actually weakened a lot of stories that would have been better off without those tropes. Don't agree with the feminist political lesbianism stuff, I'm pretty sure who we're attracted to is more innate than that

I've never quite seen the lesbianism + feminism relation, tbh. In my eyes, physical and emotional attraction to a certain gender seem to have very little to do with political and social values. If a woman is "attracted" to other women specifically because of "equal rights" or "the patriarchy", it sounds a bit like chuunibyou to me... =A=

You've never heard of Lesbian Separatism or Political Lesbianism? There's actually quite a long history of connection between feminism and lesbianism, but that's a bit off the direct topic of the definition of yuri so probably not worth getting into here.

Feminism is the theory, lesbianism is the practice.

Full response in the morning. For me how subversive or transgressive something is is directly related to it's effect on the world. It can be marquee de sade bizarre, but if three people of no consequence read it, it influences little and leads to no organizing, then it lacks said qualities. If it's published to a--let's say--woke audience, it's not subversive. If it's a high schooler's fanfic and hits a rural town of 300, it's probably maximally subversive.

Also, Nezzzzz, please email me, or I'll have to hit you up via an awkward transaction on my irl Twitter. Got a project in the works, need the right people. Altairediting@gmail.com

As for this thread's topic: a free for all.

last edited at Mar 24, 2017 2:12AM

Stretch is yuri

/discuss

Stretch strikes me as more obviously catered to a sort of male audience than any number of the more pornographic works on the site, honestly, because of that sort of plausible deniability of any level of gayness. Like, "there's still a chance, dudes" sort of thinking

Stretch is yuri

/discuss

Stretch strikes me as more obviously catered to a sort of male audience than any number of the more pornographic works on the site, honestly, because of that sort of plausible deniability of any level of gayness. Like, "there's still a chance, dudes" sort of thinking

I disagree.

Stretch is more josei than anything. Aimed at a young to middle-aged women demographic. The stretching lessons are obviously for them.

And I wouldn't say it's yuri, though the potential was there. It was just implied and one-sided. That it wasn't "realized" is pretty realistic, as was the whole manga.

It's still a good read.

The thing I've said about Stretch is it's like the first half of a romance novel. All the characters are introduced with their backstories, their intentions and starting relationships are laid out. Now they part, and what's left - and left to the reader's imagination - is the actual meat of the story where the romance happens.

My issue with Stretch isn't the "yuri or not" angle but with how the ending was written, which honestly wasn't great.

Stretch is an interesting, and trickier, one. It was first serialized in a seinen manga, which doesn't preclude yuri but does explain the fan service. Then it moved to online only on Shou's site. So the demographic was limited to Shou's site traffic and, well, us on DS, kind of. We're more inadvertent though.
I think authorial intent might play in more because demographics and the market are dead ends (or just seinin) this time. Considering Shou's previous, and concurrent with Stretch, work in comic Lo, there's a lack of yuri all around. Though there is romance? It comes down to how intentional the imagined relationship between the pages is, which makes intent hard to find without some serious close reading. Shou knows how to yuri, but they don't seem to be doing it this time. A closer look at the ending will likely color the whole series by sucking the legitimacy out of a potential relationship, but I can't be sure without a rereading.

Well, does it follow established yuri patterns and meet the looser definition of an intense platonic relationship between women? I think that was one of Erica Freidman's definitions. One particularity tricky wrench in the system is that the backstory is set up like the archetypal yuri story of girl falls in love with girl who was in love with her the whole time.

I think that's where the ire against the story comes from. In yuri, those flashbacks of when they knew each other in school would imply the beginnings of romantic interest. In, say, yuri hime. Or, by a known yuri mangaka...

Did Stretch at some point have a Yuri tag?

Not here.

It did, in our hearts.

The heart is deceitful above all things.

Did Stretch at some point have a Yuri tag?

Yes, for a number of the early chapters. It was a false hope.

Is that when your heart pumps yuri through your body instead of blood?

Is that when your heart pumps yuri through your body instead of blood?

No, it's when you delude yourself that something wiĺl have an yuri end even when there's no evidence to support it from neither publishers, author... And you still become salty when it doesn't. Even months after the end of the series, apparently.

last edited at Mar 26, 2017 2:26AM

Is that when your heart pumps yuri through your body instead of blood?

No, it's when you delude yourself that something wiĺl have an yuri end even when there's no evidence to support it from neither publishers, author... And you still become salty when it doesn't. Even months after the end of the series, apparently.

Haha.

It did, in our hearts.

and on April 1st, nev4r 5get the casualties

Is that when your heart pumps yuri through your body instead of blood?

No, it's when you delude yourself that something wiĺl have an yuri end even when there's no evidence to support it from neither publishers, author... And you still become salty when it doesn't. Even months after the end of the series, apparently.

Speaking of salty, you seem pretty fixated on this topic.

last edited at Mar 26, 2017 8:10AM

↑
I like where this is going...

Come on. Who didn't ship Keiko and Ran?

That was very much intended. The conclusion of the manga was a tongue in cheek joke about it... the "super friends".

Ran was so obviously in love with Keiko, even though she never said it.

And Keiko wasn't indifferent, but at the same time wasn't ready, or willing, to enter that kind of relationship, even though she needed Ran in her life. She just needed to give the signal and Ran would have dived right in. Author decided otherwise.

I commend the author for making a story about a close relationship between two women, with it riding all along on a razor-thin edge between romance and real friendship.

It was very skillful and it's sad some people don't acknowledge it's still a good story, even though there was room for more.

Come on. Who didn't ship Keiko and Ran?

That was very much intended. The conclusion of the manga was a tongue in cheek joke about it... the "super friends".

Ran was so obviously in love with Keiko, even though she never said it.

This is especially notable in a series that relied so heavily on putting together clues to understand the overarching story. The audience was expected to read into those hints throughout, and in that sense Ran was practically standing on the roof, wearing an "I wanna date Keiko" T-Shirt and waving a rainbow flag.

And Keiko wasn't indifferent, but at the same time wasn't ready, or willing, to enter that kind of relationship, even though she needed Ran in her life. She just needed to give the signal and Ran would have dived right in. Author decided otherwise.

This is why I say it reads like the first half of a romance novel. Keiko's dealt with the worst of her demons, but now she needs time to herself to process what's happened. Ran understood this and did the "if you love something set it free" routine. It wouldn't have been out of place at all to do a second series where they come back together, with new experiences behind them and Keiko finally ready to pursue something deeper. But that part is left up to our imaginations and honestly I don't have a problem with that.

Yuri is Anime/Manga/Visual Novel's/Light Novels that feature's Girls being sexually (and/or romantically) attracted to other's girls (and/or boy's, They could be Bi). It's basically The term for Lesbian's in Japanese media.

As for the whole drama sub-discussion. I came up with this thing I call "The 4 Level's Of Yuri Drama". There's
Level 1: Drama (Girl Friends, Lily Love & Akuma No Riddle)
Level 2: Aaaaaangst (Citrus, My Ignorance of a World Yet Unknown & She, Her Camera and Her Seasons)
Level 3: Depressing as fuck (The Private Report on My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness & Gunjo,)
Level 4: Tragedy (Shiroi Heya no Futari & Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

last edited at Mar 26, 2017 3:01PM

And Keiko wasn't indifferent, but at the same time wasn't ready, or willing, to enter that kind of relationship, even though she needed Ran in her life. She just needed to give the signal and Ran would have dived right in. Author decided otherwise.

The urge to write more hentai got too strong! x)

My favorite characterization of yuri is given by the artists behind the masterpiece "she-wolf," Eiki Eiki and Zaou Taishi, who said they create yuri "to denounce a society in which men always take the (sexual) initiative over women. We also wish to show our dissatisfaction toward men who don't understand women's natural sexual desires" = yuri as radical feminism